Acetylene-gas generator.



C. T. TARPENNING & 0. SCHELLERT.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. I914.

Pafented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 $HEETS-SHEET I IV/T/VA'SSES.

ATTORNEYS.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOflRAPl-l 370., WASHINGTON, D. C.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. I914.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAP" (20., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. T. TARP ENNING & 0. SCHELLERT.

ACETYLENE GAS GENERATOR. APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. 1914.

1,178,426. Y Patented A r. 4,1916.

3. SHEETS-SHEET 3- ATTOIF/VEFS.

THE COLUMBIA FLANDGRAPH 60., WASHINGTON. D. c.

CHARLES '1. TARPENNING AND" OTTO SCHELLEBT, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

ACET'YLENEwGAS GENERATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

Application filed April 9, 1914. Serial No. 830,719.

To all'whom itmay concern: 1

Be it known that we, CHARLES T. TAR PENNING and OTTO SoHnLLnR'r,citizens of the'United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the countyof Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and. usefulImprovements v in Acetylene-Gas Generators, of which the following is aspecification. I Y 1 This invention relates to acetylene gas generatorswhich are particularly applicable to be used for generating acetylenegas for lighting. purposes where artificial coal gas is not available. ji The object of the invention consists in the provision of a gasgenerator of the above character which includes a secondarycarbid-receptacle for holding carbid independently of the carbid in themain receptacle, which'carbid will be automatically fed into thegenerating chamber at predetermined periods of time when the carbid inthe main receptacle. is exhausted, so that the lights may be continuedfor a'greater length of time, and also indicating both that the reservedcarbid is being drawn upon andthat the re-filling of the 'main carbidreceptacle is-imperative. r I

A'further object of the invention consists in the provision of a gasgenerator of the above character wherein a high" grade of gas can beeconomically produced, the generator being automatically operated by thevariation inthe volume of gas within the bell, until the carbid isentirelyexhausted. A further object of the invention consists in theprovision of a gas generator of the above character embodyingconstruction to reduce the liability of leakage of gas to a minimum,thereby preventingwasteof gas and possible loss of both life andproperty through explosion.

Ne accomplish the above objects of the invention by means of theconstruction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a parthereof, in wh1ch Figure 1 is aview partly inside elevation and partly insection of our improved acetylene gas generator. Fig. 2 'is a sectionalview on theline 22 Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of thegenerator. Fig. at is a top or plan viewof the carbidreceptacle, theother portions ofthe genera-- tor being omitted. Fig. 5 is 'a crosssection on the line 5 5 in Fig. 4. 'Fig. 6 is a horizontal section ontheline 6-6 in'Fig. 5.

F ig. 7 is a vertical section on the line 77 in Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, 10 represents the main generating chamberwhich is preferably formedas shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. means of ahorizontally disposed diaphragm 11 having .a vertically disposedthroat-piece 12 through which the carbid passes from thecarbid-receptacle to the water within the generating. chamber 10.15represents the carbid-receptacle which is easily inserted'into theupper end of the throat-piece,.12,.the introduction of said receptacle15 being limited byfmeans of a plurality of straps16. The floor 17 ofthe carbid-receptacle 15 has a cone-shaped formation, in the usualmanner, so as to feed'the carbid to the center by gravity andthroughjthedischarge opening 18. The flow of'thecarbid through theopening 18 is regulated by means of a valve 19 which is, attached to thelower end of the valverodf20 which extends vertically through the centerof the carbid-receptacle 15. The upper end of the valve-rod 20 isengaged by standard 22, the free end of the lever sustaining a weight 23which holdsthe valve The chamber is divided by means of a leverj21 whichis pivotedina nearly exhaustedfrom thebell so that a new charge ofcarbid is discharged into the generating chamber to renew the supply ofgas in the bell. In order-to prevent leakage of gas around thecarbid-receptacle 15 the latter is entirely inclosed by means of a hood25 the lower end of which is sealed by the water 26 above the diaphragm11.

30' represents the gas holder or bell wherein the excess of gas isstored, the said bell being confined within the hollow shell 31, thebellbeing free to move vertically as the volume of gas is increased, asshown by means of the dotted position in Fig- 1. As the gas is withdrawnfrom the bell 30 the latter descends, and when it has almost reachedthelimit of its downward travel it actuates the lever 33 through the chain34, the lever 33,

by means of the chain connection, being I unaffected by the upwardtravel of the bell 30. 'The lever 33 extends acrossthe top of the. hood25 and is pivoted to the standard 36 at 37. Through this connection thehood 25 is; depressed when the lever 33 is acted upon by the bell 30until said hood contacts co zw 1 with valve-rod 20 when the valve 19 isopened and a new charge of carbid is discharged into the generatingchamber. As a new supply of gas is generated the gas passes out of thegenerator into the throatpiece 12 and thence into the outlet pipe 40, atwhich time suflicient pressure exists within the hood 25 to raise thelatter sufficiently to clear the end of the valverod 20. As soon as theweight of the hood has been removed from the valve-rod 20 the valve 19closes the opening 18 by means of the counterweight 23.

It will be noted that the valve-rod 20 is provided with'a second valve42 which is situated upon said rod a short distance above the valve 19.The object of the valve 42 is to prevent, in case the valve rod 20 ispushed entirely down and remains so for any cause, the entire contentsof the carbid receptacle being discharged through the discharge opening18.

As before stated, the gas passes from the generating chamber through thepipe 40 into a chamber situated in the lower end of the shell 31, saidchamber being divided by means of a horizontal floor 46 in the shell 81.The chamber in the lower portion of the shell is divided into twocompartments 17 and 48 by means of the vertical divislon wall 49. As thegas is discharged from the pipe 40 into the compartment 47 it contacts abaffle-plate 50 whereby the gas is forced downwardly around the loweredge of sa1d plate and through the water 51 where the impurities areremoved from the gas. The gas in the compartment a7 passes upwardlythrough the pipe 55 arranged vertically within the bell 30 anddischarges therein through a washer 56. The excess moisture in the gasis allowed to drain back down through the pipe 55 into the compartment47. l Vhen the gas is being consumed the bell, which is being held insuspenslonby the buoyancy of the gas, descends forcing the gas to passout through the plpe to the service pipe 65. WVe provide a looseconnection between the ends of the pipes 60 and 65, the upper end of thepipe 60 being enlarged as at 67 which is filled with suitable fluffymaterial to extract whatever moisture may be retained in the gas afterpassing through the washer 56. The adjacent end of the pipe is providedwith an enlarged sleeve which fits down loosely over the enlargement 67on the pipe 60, the lower end of the sleeve 70 being sealed by the waterabove the diaphragm 11.

Examining Fig. 3, it will be noted that access may be had to thegenerating chamber through an opening 7 5 through which the sludge maybe removed and the cleaning of said chamber effected. The opening 7 5 isnormally closed by means of a lid 76, and said lid is provided with ahandle 77 which extends a considerable distance above the generatingchamber. This enables the lid 7 6 to be easily removed from the top ofthe ground when the generator is let into a pit in the ground, which isthe desirable way of construction, as it saves space, removes it fromview and renders it less liable to be tampered with by unauthorizedpersons.

It has heretofore been mentioned that the generator is provided withcertain means whereby a portion of the carbid is confined separatelyfrom the major portion, so that instead of allowing the lights to beextinguished without warning when the major portion of the carbid isexhausted, the small reserve supply can be drawn upon. As the reservecarbid is only released after the gas is almost entirely withdrawn fromthe bell, and with the resulting reduction in pressure of the gas atthis time will show a corresponding reduction in the brilliancy of thelights, and as the increased illumination of the lights immediatelytakes place after additional gas is generated from the reserve carbid,it acts as a signal to indicate that the reserve carbid is now beingdrawn upon so that further consumption of gas can be controlled for thetime being, and further indicating that the time for re-filling the maincarbid-receptacle is near at hand. This is accomplished by means of asemi-circular gate 80 which divides the carbid-receptacle into twocompartments. The gate 80 is pivoted at each end to the walls of thecarbid receptacle 15 and is actuated, to allow the confined carbid toescape toward the dis charge opening 18, by means of the operating-rod81 which extends vertically through the carbid-receptacle and pivotallyengages the lever 82 which is pivotally supported in the standard'83.The free end of the lever 82 extends beneath the lever 21 and isactuated thereby when the lever 21 is sulficiently depressed to engagethe lever 82. Ordinarily when the lever 21 is depressed by the valve-rod20 to unseat the valve 19 the lever 82 is not affected, this occuringonly when the gas is almost entirely withdrawn from the bell 30 and thelatter descends to such an extent that the hood 25 forces the valve-rod20 and lever down to a point until the lever 21 contacts and actuatesthe lever 82, whereby the gate 80 is raised through the rod 81.

Having thus fully described our said invention, what we desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. In an acetylene gas generator, the combination, with the generatorcasing, of a carbid holding receptacle arranged so as to discharge itscontents into said casing, a gate arranged within said carbid holdingreceptacle for separating and constraining a portion of the carbid apartfrom the main mass, a rod connected to the gate and extending above thereceptacle, said rod being actuated by an abnormal depression of thehood for elevating said gate and releasing the constrained carbid afterthe main mass of carbid is discharged.

2. In an acetylene gas generator, the combination, with the generatorcasing, of a carbid holding receptacle having a discharge openingarranged to discharge the carbid into said casing, a valve forcontrolling the flow of carbid through said discharge opening, avalve-stem for mounting said valve, a hood for inclosing said carbidreceptacle and operating the valve-stem by the lowering of the hood, agas holding bell communicating with said casing, means actuated by saidgas bell for depressing the hood, a gate arranged within said carbidholding receptacle for separating and constraining V a portion of thecarbid apart from the main mass within said receptacle, a rod connectedto the gate and extending above the carbid holding receptacle, said rodbeing actuated CHARLES T. TARPENNING. [L. 3-] OTTO SCHELLERT. [L. 8.]

Witnesses:

F. W. WOERNER,

I. L. LAnson.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of I'atents, Washington, D. G.

